Spring in Normandie

(Yes, that’s Normandie as in French, sorry but I cannot bring myself to write Normandy, I think the y removes all the French glamour immediately.)

I had been thinking about traveling to that region of North-West France since a few years now, after seeing pictures of Honfleur and Deauville in some travel article, and falling in love with the coloured front row houses and vintage beach changing rooms. I also wanted to see the disappearing Mount Saint-Michel, but didn’t have time for that this time. (They say every time you travel, it’s better to leave some things off for a future visit 🙂 )

Giverny or the impressionist dream

If you come from Paris, as me and my sister did, I would recommend making a first stop by Giverny before heading towards the beach and visiting the Fondation Claude Monet. Especially if you’re coming in Spring. Remember those marvellous huge Water Lilies paintings? They were painted here.

Monet, one of my favorite painters, built his own garden with flowers that would grow all year long in front of his house. Once I saw the scenery, I realized that 2 hour-drive and the 40-minute waiting in line under the sun to get in were well worth it. I will let my pictures speak for themselves.

The bright side of Lloret de Mar in Costa Brava

In terms of reputation, Lloret de Mar has definitely some work to do. What used to be a picturesque village in the southern part of the beautiful Costa Brava, has turned over the years into a popular destination among European youngsters looking for sun, beach and most of all fiesta. In fact, it’s quite common to describe as “Lloret tourism” all those low cost travelers who are only looking to get drunk and make party all night long (and who often provoke quarrels).

Fortunately not all of the town’s coast was ruined by tall hotel buildings looking to host as many tourists as possible. Sa caleta cove for instance still preserves some charm with all the fisherman’s boats.

The seaside path starting from this small bay offers what I consider some privileged views from the Mediterranean coast. But since a picture is worth a thousand words, judge yourself 🙂

Has the image you had of Lloret de Mar changed by these pictures?

Shibuya vs Barcelona fashion event

This past Friday I went with some friends to a fashion event organised by website Lelook and fashion brands Onitsuka Tiger and Maryluis. The dress code was pretty original “Shibuya vs Barcelona” so I knew there were going to be interesting looks at the luxurious OMM Hotel basement bar.

It was obviously hard to decide what to wear for such an occasion, I asked my friend Tatel from trendycrew.com, who was in charge of getting the street style looks of the night, but she wasn’t so sure about it either ( or so she said as she’s always perfect on any occasion).

When we got there, it was as expected. The line that divides wearing an original outfit with personality and wearing a disguise was easily crossed by some of the attendees.

Moreover, knowing that there was a coolhunter in charge of selecting the best looks for a fashion catwalk, which got free make-up and hair-styling services pushed some of the fashionistas eager to draw attention to wear pretty much extreme looks. Well just judge for yourself, here’s a collection of some of the best looks of the night!

Monitsuka Tiger models

Photographer Sebas Romero and Onitsuka tiger model

Make up artists at Hotel OMM

The fashion jury

Getting lost in Zurich

Zurich is one of these cities I personally didn’t know much about. Until a friend invited me over some weeks ago, I had never though about traveling there. I actually was unable to find any Zurich city guide in Barcelona, not even at the airport. Luckily, it’s very easy getting around it, even if you don’t speak Swiss German ( mostly everyone speaks perfect English).

All the main attractions are all located around the river Limmat, in the old town. I won’t lie, there are touristic shops and restaurants, but I highly recommend getting lost around the narrow alleys and streets. You will find lovely little shops, with beautiful displays ( this would actually could become another post), and I even felt it would be awesome to live there for a while. I was lucky with the weather, it was far from cold and sunny most part of the day. I guess during winter time I wouldn’t think this way though…

Old style buildings, clean streets (I was surprise I couldn’t see a single homeless person, maybe in Barcelona we’re unfortunately too used to them, as if they had become part of the landscape…) and awesome views to the lake.

If you’re ever going to Zurich, don’t forget to go up the University right in the old town, where you will enjoy  awesome views of the whole city.

Since it was Autumn, I could see the leaves turning red, it was a beautiful scenery, even if not comparable to the japanese Koyo.

Invisible Maps of Barcelona

The other day I participated in a workshop of a project called Invisible Maps. The purpose of this project is to record some information of a place, shop, bar etc. of the city in a QR code to be pasted at a specific location. This way, a passenger by will be able to access this information by reading the QR code on his or her smartphone. A sort of invisible map , a gateway to a story behind some walls.

When asked about memories of a special place in Barcelona, my mind would inevitably travel to places I’ve shared with special people. Usually at sunset or night time, those kind of memories that come to life everytime we walk next the place, no matter how far in time they belong to. However, these kind of memories don’t have much informative value, so I went back to my younger years and found a story that could be shared.